Obama Lauds "Historic Homeland of Jewish People"

President Barack Obama landed in Israel for his first official visit as president of the United States of America. Upon disembarking the aircraft, he make a brief speech in the presence of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and others.

"On this land I walk with you, on the historic homeland of the Jewish people," President Obama stated. "Over 3,000 years ago your people lived here, tended the land here, and prayed to God here. And after centuries of exile and persecution unparalleled in the history of man, the founding of the Jewish State of Israel was a rebirth, a redemption," the president said.